Marquette fires assistant Monarch

Saturday

Aug 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMAug 25, 2012 at 1:00 AM

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Marquette men's basketball Coach Buzz Williams announced the dismissal of assistant Scott Monarch yesterday, and Williams will serve a one-game suspension as part of the school's self-imposed sanctions for recruiting rules violations it reported to the NCAA.

The school said Monarch gave team-issued apparel and provided transportation to an unnamed recruit, then was "found to have been untruthful with department administrators on multiple occasions" after the violations were discovered.

"When I was allowed to review the report earlier this week, I was deeply saddened to learn of an error in judgment of one of my assistants and closest friends," Buzz Williams said in a statement. "I take personal responsibility for what happens in this program and realize we must be role models to both our team and the entire university. Our commitment has always been and will always be to operate this program at the highest level of integrity in the Marquette and Jesuit tradition."

Marquette Athletic Director Larry Williams said in an interview with The Associated Press that there are no indications that Buzz Williams was aware of the violations. The one-game suspension comes in recognition of Buzz Williams' "duty to monitor the compliance of his staff," the school said.

Larry Williams hopes the self-imposed sanctions will show that Marquette takes the issues seriously.

"Our intent here is to build a national championship-caliber program, and we don't want to put it at risk for something as controllable and as fundamental as integrity," Larry Williams told the AP. "We're confident that this is one of the building blocks toward that pursuit of a national championship-caliber team."

Buzz Williams is expected to sit out the first Big East game of the Golden Eagles' upcoming season.

As part of the self-imposed sanctions, the school also will voluntarily reduce its number of official recruit visits. Monarch has been suspended since mid-June, and Marquette considers not having him available for recruiting trips during that period to be part of its self-imposed sanctions. Buzz Williams can hire a replacement for Monarch.

The Associated Press could not immediately reach Monarch for comment.

"The violations that are more serious are the multiple instances of untruthfulness," Larry Williams said. "The NCAA has as probably its core value the requirement that anybody that works in college athletics be truthful, and you can understand that. We're educating young men and women. If it isn't built on a bedrock of integrity, then it's going to lead to problems. So the NCAA takes the obligation to be honest really, really seriously."

Larry Williams said an internal investigation found that Monarch wasn't telling the truth.

"Through the course of the investigation, it became clear, ultimately, to the independent investigator, he admitted the" dishonesty, Larry Williams said.

Had Monarch admitted the violations right away, it's possible that he would have faced less severe punishment.